Roma jumped up and grabbed Cassie's hand. "I'll teach you everything. Partners?"
"Yes!" Cassie squealed and they hugged for a long time.
"Okay, you guys, that part is settled, but now I have to decide if I should go on another date or not." I grabbed one last pizza roll before Cassie snatched the plate again.
"Fill me in," Cassie said and Roma and I launched into a full-scale explanation of our last few weeks. Twenty minutes later, we'd made a plate of egg rolls and opened a third bottle of wine.
"That settles it." I showed Roma and Cassie the app, which said a man named Reynard was my next date. "I'm doing it. But I’m only going to guarantee one more."
Roma's face lit up. "I know Rey. You'll love him."
"You'll vouch for him?" I asked, giving her the stink eye.
She nodded and grabbed my hand. "A hundred percent."
Super. Weirdly enough, having her vouch for him made me feel a little better about the whole thing. At least I could be reasonably certain he wouldn't suck out my brains with a third nipple or something.
3
REYNARD
I munchedon the garlic breadstick and checked my watch again with an impatient sigh. I'd finally relented and allowed Bran to sign me up for this dating scheme while he and Andromeda were off touring Dream. If she was going to be his queen, she had to learn all about that world as well as this one. And while I’d learned much of this world, I hadn’t bothered with the more formal aspects.
I was happy for him, truly. Not jealous at all. If he hadn't had such success, I never would've gone in for this dating thing. Nor been willing to talk with the dragon of a woman who ran it. She was very good at her job, that much I knew, but that didn’t make her any more pleasant as a person.
"You're my last match." A flat, disillusioned feminine voice came from behind me. I turned to meet an intense green gaze, lovely eyes in a face that could make the forest sing the praise of her beauty. Her hair was redder than my coat in fox form, falling below her shoulders in a silken wave. "If we don't work, I've wasted all my money, so try not to be a complete dud."
Oh, she was absolutely spectacular. I could already tell we were going to get along. Jumping to my feet, I rushed over and pulled out her chair for her, inhaling slightly to catch her scent. I tried not to be obvious about it, but she did smell so very good. "I have been accused of many things in my life, but never once have I been called a dud, I assure you."
I didn't need any more information to know this was the woman I'd be wooing on this earth.
Too bad she didn't look so convinced. "Whatever you say. My last three dates were absolute monsters." She sat delicately and allowed me to push her chair in. It was all I could do not to fall over myself to get around the table so I could gaze at her face, study her features, and drink in her beauty. "Literally." She arched one eyebrow, indicating she knew all about our little beastly problem. "I'm supposed to go on six of these things, but this is it. I only came because Roma vouched for you."
"You know Andromeda?" I asked, a little surprised nobody mentioned to me who my date was with, and especially that they didn't tell me what a treat I was in store for. "I hope she is enjoying her tour of Dream."
But the spectacular creature shook her head. "They didn't go. Not yet. It's too important that they get the PR campaign off the ground first."
That made perfect sense, and I was surprised I hadn’t been informed. Not that they needed to keep me informed of their whereabouts at all, but still. "And where do you fit in with all of this? I'm rather surprised to hear you know intimate details of our plight."
The waiter came over with the bottle of wine I'd already ordered, and she smiled gratefully at him before turning her attention back to me. "I'm Roma's best friend. I figured it out pretty quickly, then confronted the lady who runs the dating agency after she sent me on three less-than-stellar dates."
"The woman is a dragon." I watched her delicately sip the wine and appreciated that she wasn't drinking it too quickly. She took a breadstick and chomped unabashedly on one end. Wonderful. She was perfection. Not afraid to eat in front of her date and not a lush. If she was intelligent, I'd be hard-pressed not to kidnap her right here and now.
I’d read several romance novels, and that did seem to be the preferred opening gambit for courtship. Then again, she did not seem to be the type of woman who would appreciate such a thing.
"Yes, she is." She spoke around the breadstick, and I stifled a laugh. "I'm a pretty good judge of people, though, and Ithinkshe's interested in helping the inhabitants of Dream. She has her own agenda, but who doesn't?" She shrugged. "If I didn't think she had good intentions, I never would've agreed to this date."
The server returned with more bread. "Are you ready to order?"
"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry. I haven't even glanced at the menu." She looked truly contrite. She wasn't a snob, that was certain. She didn't like inconveniencing the wait staff. Everything she did got better and better. "We'll hurry."
I didn't care what I ate at this point. She didn't speak as she studied the menu, then leveled her big green eyes on me. They were weapons deadly to my heart. "Are you ready?"
"I was born ready."
She signaled the waiter, who came right back over, and said, "I'd love the coconut shrimp with a side salad and fries."
"I'll have the same," I said without taking my eyes off the ravishing creature beside me.
